


The Darkest Night, The Longest Day

by adventurepants



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, Episode: s05e06 Rite of Passage, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-02
Updated: 2010-09-02
Packaged: 2017-10-24 05:03:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/259306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adventurepants/pseuds/adventurepants
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Thank you for coming,” she says, and he’s startled at how much she doesn’t sound like herself, but how could she? It’s been years since Charlie died, and he still doesn’t feel quite like himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Darkest Night, The Longest Day

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place within the Business Ladies' AU during "Rite of Passage."

The sun is just starting to come up when Jack pulls up outside of the Fraisers' house. It’s been hours since they brought Cassie into the SGC, and as her fever continues to rise, Jack is sure of two things. The first, that he cannot stand by uselessly and watch Cassie die. The second, that Charlotte shouldn’t be alone right now.

He sees that lights are on all over the house as he gets out of his car and walks up to the front door, confirming what he’d already been sure of- she’s been up all night, just like the rest of them.

He doesn’t get a chance to knock before she throws the door open, takes one look at him and crumbles, almost falling against him as he puts his arms around her. She hides her face in his shoulder and cries, and he wishes he could do something, that there was something he could fight back against to make this go away.

Charlotte had been a surprise, the first time he'd gone over to see how Cassie was doing. "I know we don't like to ask or tell things, Carter," he'd said afterwards, "but you could have given me a little warning."

Carter had only smirked at him and said it was nothing compared to how _she_ met Charlotte. He'd tried to get the story out of her later, but she wouldn't breathe a word, and neither would Charlotte or Janet.

Charlotte did a million things that should have annoyed him. She called him Jonathan, for one, and she requested regularly that he let her take him shopping for "better pants." And she wouldn't leave him alone about Carter, ever.

"You can't just let the _military_ -" (and she said that word with no uncertain measure of disgust) "stand in the way of love," she'd say, as though she thought she knew something.

Furthermore, she insisted upon calling the Air Force "the army." She'd wave a dismissive hand and roll her eyes, saying, "Oh, it's all the same," if anyone tried to correct her. He got the feeling Janet had let that one go years before.

But Charlotte was kind, and funny, and honest almost to a fault. She was a good person and a good mother, and Jack admired her a great deal more than he’d ever admit. She quickly weaseled her way into his life, becoming one of the best friends he’d ever had, and his frustrations with her were, for the most part, feigned.

“Come on,” he says, and she lifts her head and allows him to lead her into the house. He guides her into the living room and onto the couch, putting his arm around her shoulders. She leans against him, but she’s tense, and he hates that it has to be like this- Charlotte stuck at home waiting, because the Air Force can’t know she exists, can’t know that she’s just as much Cassie’s mother as Janet is.

“Thank you for coming,” she says, and he’s startled at how much she doesn’t sound like herself, but how could she? It’s been years since Charlie died, and he still doesn’t feel quite like himself.

“Hey,” he says, tugging her closer. “Of course I came. Nothing better to do this early, right?”

“Jonathan,” she says, scolding gently, and then asks, “How is she? Janet’s been calling me with updates every hour, but. How is she? Is she scared?”

“No,” he says, after considering it for a moment. “She’s been pretty calm.”

“She’s pretending,” Charlotte says immediately, and she’s so certain, so maternal. “She does it all the time, she never wants you to know that she’s scared. She doesn’t… she doesn’t like for Janet and me to worry about her.” She turns her head into his shoulder again, hiding. “I can’t lose her, Jack.”

“You won’t,” he says, but he knows it’s not enough.

“I know how bad it is,” Charlotte snaps, and instantly regrets her tone. She continues more softly. “If my daughter dies, and I’m not there…”

Jack closes his eyes at that, but when he does he sees Charlie in the hospital, ghostly white and bleeding, so he opens them. “If it looks like… if it looks like she’s not going to make it, you’ll be there. I’ll take you. I’ll zat anyone in our way.”

She nods, and her voice is just above a whisper. “Thank you.”

\---

“We tried to have a baby, once,” she says after awhile.

“Yeah?” Jack says. He’d had no idea.

“We found a sperm donor, and I was going to carry the baby.” She pauses, and he waits. “I lost it at three months.”

He’s terrible at this, so he just holds her, and says, “I’m sorry.”

“We were going to try again, but… Janet got a call from Cheyenne Mountain the next month, and. Well. It just wasn’t a good time, after that.” She sniffles. “And then Cassie happened.”

Jack lets out a quiet, surprised chuckle. “Yes, she did.”

“And we knew, right away. She was ours. It didn’t matter that she was already eleven, it didn’t matter… where she came from, what she’d been through. All that mattered was she was here. This wonderful little girl. All that mattered was earning her trust and her love and becoming her family.”

Jack kisses the top of Charlotte’s head, and stays quiet.

“We thought she might not call either of us ‘Mom.’ She was… she was eleven years old, she’d already had parents. And that was okay with us, you know, we just wanted her to be okay, to be happy and feel safe with us, and what did it matter what she called us?” Charlotte smiles, and wipes at her eyes. “And then one day she came home from school, tossed her backpack down, and said ‘Hi, Mom.’ And that was the best day of my life.”

Jack smiles despite the growing ache in his chest. “Yeah. Kids are like that.” Your children define you, he’s learned, in a way that nothing else could ever touch. The only eight years of his life that he believes truly mattered- mattered more than exploring the galaxy, more than saving the world- are bookended by the best day of his life and the worst.

Charlotte lifts her head away from his shoulder, looking startled, because she’s remembered. “Oh, Jonathan, I’m sorry, I didn’t think—this must be so hard for you.”

Jack shakes his head—God, he hopes one day he can think of Charlie without it hurting this much—and keeps his arm around her, protectively. “It’s fine, Charlotte. Don’t worry about me. All you need to worry about right now is how much crap we’re going to give that boyfriend of Cassie’s when she gets better, all right?”

She surprises them both, then, by laughing, one hand flying to her mouth in a weak attempt to contain it. “Oh, he seems like a nice boy.”

Jack huffs. “What do you know about nice _boys?_ ” he asks, brow furrowing.

She lays her head down on his shoulder again, eyes coming to rest on the phone lying on the coffee table, due to ring any minute now. “I know you.”


End file.
